A lot of Arkansas bands draw creatively from the usual suspects that you would expect; Black Sabbath the most readily apparent. Auric are much more modern in scope.

Auric are fluent in the vocabulary of the more arty/weirder elements of extreme metal and hardcore from the last 15 years or so. In one song, these guys can convincingly utilize those skronky, jazz-by-way-of-death metal chords of Gorguts and Ulcerate, the “after the end of the world, roll credits” doom passages of Rune’s seminal End of Nothing, to those circuitous, tribal/trance passages that Neurosis first brought to metal on albums like Souls at Zero, and Enemy of the Sun. I also hear shades of Converge, and to some lesser extent, Mastodon. The Mastodon influence in particular is heavily apparent in the drumming, reminiscent of Brann Dailor’s fluent “drumfills-as-backbeat” style.

Unlike a lot of bands of their ilk, Auric are always tuneful. Some of the better examples of this are the prosaic, melodic instrumental excursions into the post-metal idiom. You know what I’m talking about; shimmering arpeggios meander, threading and weaving through and around the craggy rumble of the drums and bass. ceaselessly climbs towards a seemingly perpetual crescendo; finally to break upon a wall of blood and thunder.

Vocals are emotive enough, sort of a hoarse bellow, not quite venturing into death metal territory. But like so much of extreme music, atonal vocals are there as another instrumental texture. Rarely do they push forward to carry the narrative; as opposed to how they are utilized in most other forms of western music. Though at other times, they do really pop through, and are a welcome delineation between longer instrumental passages.

A minor complaint would be that the drums have an odd, processed sound. I have no problem with drum machines, or triggered drums in general; whatever works, when it works. But everything else on this album sounds organic and integrated, which just makes the weird drum sound that much more noticeable. But it really doesn’t effect the drum performance, which is actually quite good.

I took quite a bit of time to immerse myself in the material, which proved to be worthwhile. While In Empty Seas has a lot of qualities that lend to instant gratification; but the nature of the layered compositions really become apparent and grab you several listens in. In Empty Seas is an album full of many faceted emotions. Auric skilfully navigates from anguish to nihilistic resignation, on to hope and serenity; and a lot of other places in between.

Definitely worth picking up.